Hard drive fell; caught in mid-air; won't spin up

Question

I have a SimpleTech 1TB external USB hard drive. I recently backed up my entire system to it, then formatted and installed Windows 8 Developer Preview.

Before restoring my data from the external drive, I stepped on the power cord, yanking the drive off the counter, while powered up and plugged into the computer. I caught the drive in mid-air—so no hard impact—but the drive now fails to spin up.

When plugged into both power and USB, it makes what sounds like abortive spin-up attempts. It’s not the click of death, but it’s not healthy, either. After trying to spin up several times, it gives up and remains powered on. My computers won’t recognize it.

I’m just sick about the lost data such as years of photos. Any suggestions?

Solution 1

You may have damaged the power and/or USB socket when the cords were yanked from the unit. Check the USB socket in particular to see if any of the pins are bent within it. If the socket can only allow an intermittent connection because of damage it may explain the powering up and powering down of the drive.

Disassemble the unit and connect the drive to another USB to SATA enclosure or PC and test it that way. If the drive works in that circumstance then you may need to replace the circuit board within the unit.

Solution 2

Since there's no video of the sound, so i may guess some things for 'abortive spin up' sound

• some bearing or other moving part moved to the wrong place and is holding some axle
• one of the power connections (may be the kicked cable, may be the solder to some conector) may be damaged and is not alowing proper power to the motor.
• heads are slammed on the platter

Now for the answer:

first, if using the same cable you kicked, use another.

then, do you find this data really valuable and irreplaceable?

if yes: Pay data recovery services ASAP.

if no, it's just something that you would be sad if lost but nothing major: try freezing it in an airtight plastic bag. that may help unstuck things and get back into place. just DO NOT turn on while frozen. allow enough time before. if all else fails, another hit in the opposite direction. there's not much more you can do.

Comments

[iglvzx]

To emphasize how delicate external harddrives can be, one of my 1TB hard drives was ruined after falling over onto it's side while in the upright position.

[Charles Burge]

Sawdust is most likely correct. If it had been powered off, then the head would be parked and it could sustain a bigger shock. However, with it running, it only takes a small jolt to send the head crashing onto the platter. I had read that some laptop drives have technology that can park the heads when the drive senses is it weightless (in the act of falling), but I don't think that is very common.